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Source: Environmental Expert.com
AeroVironment DC Fast Chargers Easily Accessible for Electric Vehicle Drivers

• EV fast chargers accessible to the public at three convenient Aloha and Shell gas stations on Oahu
• Vehicles can fully charge in less than 30 minutes with fast chargers
• Free charging for EV owners for a limited time

HONOLULU–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Now there’s more than one way to refuel at Aloha Island Mart and Shell stations on Oahu. Today, AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) and Aloha Petroleum, Ltd. unveiled Electric Vehicle (EV) DC fast chargers at three locations across the island:

AV DC Fast Charger at Aloha Island Mart Kahala (Photo: Business Wire)

• Aloha Island Mart Kahala (4339 Waialae Ave.)
• Aloha Island Mart Waipio-Gentry (94-826 Ukee St.)
• Kailua Shell (434 Kuulei Rd.)

For a limited time, electric vehicles equipped with a CHAdeMO fast-charging outlet, such as on some models of the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV, can be charged for free at these Aloha stations. CHAdeMO is short for “CHArge de Move” or “charge for moving.” DC fast chargers can deliver a full charge to a nearly depleted EV battery in less than 30 minutes.
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Source: Environmental Leader.com
Duracell, Energizer, Panasonic and Rayovac – the four largest battery brands in the US – are seeking a business partner to manage a proposed nationwide collection and recycling program for household batteries, scheduled to launch next year.

Through their non-profit Corporation for Battery Recycling, the companies have issued a request for proposals seeking a “stewardship organization,” which will be responsible for compliance with all laws and regulations, and must address technical or other challenges associated with recycling of household primary batteries.

The companies founded CBR after seeing the results of a 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology life-cycle consumer battery analysis, which found that collection and recycling could be net environmentally positive. Since then, the companies have been working with MIT to create a voluntary recycling program where the use of recovered materials such as zinc, manganese and steel offsets the extraction impact of virgin materials.

In January, CBR launched two — in Hennepin County, Minn., and Santa Clara County, Calif. — of its six scheduled “foundation programs,” which will gather data from existing battery collection programs to help CBR develop its nationwide recycling program. The four other foundation programs are in Onondaga County, NY; San Luis Obispo County, Calif., and King and Snohomish counties, Wash.

The nation-wide program will focus on the collection of all consumer batteries and recycling of primary cylindrical and prismatic alkaline manganese, zinc carbon, and lithium batteries up to a maximum of 2 kg, and zinc air, silver oxide, alkaline manganese and lithium button/coin cells.

Preliminary research conducted by CBR indicated that consumers typically don’t differentiate between primary batteries and others, so the proposals must include a solution for other batteries (for example, rechargeables and lithium thionyl chloride) that are likely to appear in collection channels.

Proposals also need to include an education program and awareness campaign to show consumers that there is an easy, convenient way to recycle batteries.

A core tenet of the program is to have a net environmentally positive system for all batteries, measured against a baseline of environmental impact of landfilling batteries under current assumptions. CBR says proposals must include recommendations for how to continuously improve the environmental impact of batteries, using four metrics: reducing human health impacts, ecosystem quality, global warming potential and resource depletion including energy demand.

Source: ScienceDaily (July 6, 2012)
Urban mining’ deposits are 40 to 50 times richer than mined ore, experts tell 1st GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy in Africa; New PCs, cell phones, tablets, other e-products now use 320 tons of gold, 7,500 tons of silver per year, and rising.

A staggering 320 tons of gold and more than 7,500 tons of silver are now used annually to make PCs, cell phones, tablet computers and other new electronic and electrical products worldwide, adding more than $21 billion in value each year to the rich fortunes in metals eventually available through “urban mining” of e-waste, experts say.

Manufacturing these high-tech products requires more than $16 billion in gold and $5 billion in silver: a total of $21 billion — equal to the GDP of El Salvador — locked away annually in e-products. Most of those valuable metals will be squandered, however; just 15% or less is recovered from e-waste today in developed and developing countries alike.

Electronic waste now contains precious metal “deposits” 40 to 50 times richer than ores mined from the ground, experts told participants from 12 countries at last week’s first-ever GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy for policymakers and small businesses, co-organized in Accra, Ghana by the United Nations University and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).

Quantities of gold, silver and other precious metals available for recovery are rising in tandem with the fast-growing sales of electronic and electrical goods, including the new category of tablet computers (with 100 million in estimated unit sales this year, a figure expected to almost double in 2014).

With respect to gold alone, electronic and electrical products consumed 5.3% (197 tons) of the world’s supply in 2001 and 7.7% last year (320 tons — equal to 2.5% of the US gold reserves in the vaults of both Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York).

In that same decade, even as the world’s annual gold supply rose 15% — from about 3,900 tons in 2001 to 4,500 tons in 2011 — the price per ounce leapt from under $300 to more than $1,500.
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Source: ScienceDaily (July 6, 2012)
Urban mining’ deposits are 40 to 50 times richer than mined ore, experts tell 1st GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy in Africa; New PCs, cell phones, tablets, other e-products now use 320 tons of gold, 7,500 tons of silver per year, and rising.

A staggering 320 tons of gold and more than 7,500 tons of silver are now used annually to make PCs, cell phones, tablet computers and other new electronic and electrical products worldwide, adding more than $21 billion in value each year to the rich fortunes in metals eventually available through “urban mining” of e-waste, experts say.

Manufacturing these high-tech products requires more than $16 billion in gold and $5 billion in silver: a total of $21 billion — equal to the GDP of El Salvador — locked away annually in e-products. Most of those valuable metals will be squandered, however; just 15% or less is recovered from e-waste today in developed and developing countries alike.

Electronic waste now contains precious metal “deposits” 40 to 50 times richer than ores mined from the ground, experts told participants from 12 countries at last week’s first-ever GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy for policymakers and small businesses, co-organized in Accra, Ghana by the United Nations University and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).

Quantities of gold, silver and other precious metals available for recovery are rising in tandem with the fast-growing sales of electronic and electrical goods, including the new category of tablet computers (with 100 million in estimated unit sales this year, a figure expected to almost double in 2014).

With respect to gold alone, electronic and electrical products consumed 5.3% (197 tons) of the world’s supply in 2001 and 7.7% last year (320 tons — equal to 2.5% of the US gold reserves in the vaults of both Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York).

In that same decade, even as the world’s annual gold supply rose 15% — from about 3,900 tons in 2001 to 4,500 tons in 2011 — the price per ounce leapt from under $300 to more than $1,500.
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Steps to streamline process will ease burden on state and local permitting authorities

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it will not revise greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting thresholds under the Clean Air Act. Today’s final rule is part of EPA’s common-sense, phased-in approach to GHG permitting under the Clean Air Act, announced in 2010 and recently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The final rule maintains a focus on the nation’s largest emitters that account for nearly 70 percent of the total GHG pollution from stationary sources, while shielding smaller emitters from permitting requirements. EPA is also finalizing a provision that allows companies to set plant-wide emissions limits for GHGs, streamlining the permitting process, increasing flexibilities and reducing permitting burdens on state and local authorities and large industrial emitters.

After consulting with the states and evaluating the phase-in process, EPA believes that current conditions do not suggest that EPA should lower the permitting thresholds. Therefore, EPA will not include additional, smaller sources in the permitting program at this time.
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Source: Flex Fuel.com

Like any other average American, you probably only think about the cost of energy when you’re standing in front of a gas pump or thumbing through your monthly utility bill. But what most consumers don’t often consider is that our energy entails a series of costs and benefits, some of which are beyond our immediate control and most of which are hard to properly quantify.  Energy production and consumption affects our economy, our environment, and our national security, all of which collectively affect our quality of life.

On the cost side of the equation, American consumers bear the expense of dependence on foreign energy as well as the costs of potential adverse environmental impacts from production. Due to our dependence on foreign oil for nearly half of our needs, we spent $435 billion spent to import 4.1 billion barrels of oil last year. Not to mention, American taxpayers incur the political and military costs of instability in key oil-producing regions. Consumers also pay for the costs when we fail to safely and responsibly produce and use energy in an efficient, environmentally friendly manner.

On the benefit side of the equation, American consumers have access to reliable supplies of energy that help us transport people, manufacture goods, light and heat our homes and businesses, and grow food.  We also benefit from the millions of jobs and billions in revenue that domestic energy production generates for the American economy. Other indirect benefits should be considered, too: the ability to drive to places outside of walking distance or the ability to work at night in a lighted building – both of which wouldn’t be possible without energy and both of which have advanced the quality of our lives and the efficiency of our economy.

Attaching a monetary value to this equation isn’t easy and oftentimes doesn’t come with much certainty.  Nevertheless, a group of graduate students at Yale University have done just that.  In a new report on “The Arithmetic of Shale Gas,” the students analyze the costs and benefits that U.S. shale gas production has for American consumers.  The report estimates that the increased supply of natural gas, thanks to expanded U.S. shale gas production, has led to significant price decreases for consumers on the magnitude of over $100 billion a year.  However, the report considers the social and environmental costs that may incur if producers fail to adequately protect the environment.  After accounting for these costs, the report concludes that the benefits significantly outweigh the costs, 400 to 1, for consumers.

While the economic benefits of our energy use may not exceed costs at a rate of 400 to 1 for all energy resources, the United States should strive for solutions that mitigate costs and increase benefits.  We can increase domestic energy production, and we can demand that energy be produced in an environmentally safe manner.

We’ve entrusted our elected officials to balance the costs and benefits of energy production and consumption through rational, scientific-based and transparent management. With the November elections on the horizon, we must now call on all candidates to support safe, American energy production and all the benefits it can bring.

By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times. Source: Governing.com

Southern California air pollution authorities may require pollution controls based on technologies that do not exist but may be reasonably anticipated, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday.

The state high court decision was a victory for environmental agencies that set standards intended to spur the development of new, greener technology, though manufacturers warned that consumers may be forced to buy inferior products as a result.

Justice Goodwin Liu, writing for the court, said pollution standards that depend on future advances are permissible as long as the new technology is “reasonably anticipated to exist by the compliance deadline.”

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by paint manufacturers against the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates pollution from sources other than vehicles.

The American Coatings Assn. Inc., challenging standards that limited pollution-causing substances in paints and other coatings, contended that new rules should rely on the best available technology. The regulations that prompted the suit were proposed in 1999, amended in 2002 and required full compliance by July 2006.

The court rejected contentions that the requirements would drive manufacturers out of the Southern California market because they would be unable to reformulate their products quickly enough. It noted that none of the manufacturers had applied for a variance because of an inability to comply.

Jeffrey B. Margulies, an attorney for the paint makers, said some manufacturers stopped selling in Southern California, conceding the market to inferior products.

“Generally, coatings of much lesser quality are being used,” Margulies said. “There are instances where people are smuggling coatings into the district because they want the high-performance coating.”

Loyola Law professor Daniel P. Selmi, who represented the air district, praised the court for overturning an appeals court ruling that would have limited regulations to existing technology.

“The district’s mandate is to obtain health-based air quality standards, and it can’t do that unless it is able to adopt rules that force the development of technology,” Selmi said. The rules are now in effect, “and the sky hasn’t fallen.”

The industry group contended the district relied too much on product data sheets, rather than field testing, and overstated the expected breakthroughs in technology. The district insisted its data were reliable and pointed to extensive field and laboratory testing.

“These disagreements do not establish that the district’s regulations were arbitrary, capricious, or entirely lacking in evidentiary support,” Liu wrote.

Monday’s decision ensures the district can continue to create new rules based on technological advances.

“It is going to be a much higher-stakes game in the future as they keep having to reduce emissions, ” Margulies said.

Are you interested in clean energy?  Creating jobs?  Strengthening Nevada’s economy?  Achieving energy independence?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to come to the fifth annual National Clean Energy Summit!

I invite you to join clean energy visionaries, leaders, public officials, business executives, entrepreneurs, investors, students, the media, and citizens like you to focus on America’s clean energy future with the convening of the National Clean Energy Summit 5.0: The Power of Choice to be held on Tuesday, August 7, 2012, at Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.  I am pleased to be cohosting this day long event with the Center for American Progress, the Clean Energy Project, MGM Resorts International, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

National Clean Energy Summit 5.0: The Power of Choice will focus on empowering individuals, governments, and businesses with the ability to choose clean energy.  The conference will highlight energy options and how the freedom to make clean energy choices can improve the quality of life, save consumers money, and grow the economy.  The more the public, business, and government understand the immense benefits of clean energy, the more likely they are to support and adopt policies to bring that future here sooner.

There has never been a more important time for Nevada and the nation to better enable investment in clean energy.  Bringing clean energy options in-line with a smarter electricity grid, while increasing the amount of solar, wind, and geothermal energy from projects in Nevada and the West, can give power to new industries and markets that will also simultaneously create new jobs and help rebuild our economy.

I look forward to joining notable speakers such as Former President Bill Clinton, Center for American Progress Chair and Counselor John Podesta, MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Murren, United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, and American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode.

For more information about the summit and to register online, please go to www.cleanenergysummit.org.

Sincerely,

HARRY REID
U.S. Senator for Nevada